Karen#1
Well-known member
TONY ORTEGA
Excerpt:
[Valeska Paris and Judge Thomas Barber]
We’ve been telling you that one of the issues facing Valeska Paris and Gawain and Laura Baxter in their labor trafficking lawsuit against Scientology is that the church doesn’t allow a transcript to be taken during its “religious arbitration.” And so when there is disagreement over what happened in the room, there’s no record to point to.
So yesterday, Valeska and the Baxters asked Tampa federal Judge Thomas Barber to allow oral arguments and an evidentiary hearing to determine who is telling the truth about the arbitration, which lasted for 15 days until the plaintiffs walked away from it on February 9, calling it a legal farce.
Scientology disagrees, saying the arbitration was a professional proceeding. But who’s telling the truth? An evidentiary hearing, with sworn testimony, could get to the bottom of it, the former Sea Org workers argued.
But the same day, Judge Barber denied the request for oral arguments or an evidentiary hearing. If he needs more information from either side, he said, he will ask for supplemental reports and determine later if a hearing is warranted.
Wow, was Judge Barber quick on the trigger. He is obviously watching this case very closely, and denied the request for an evidentiary hearing right away.
But how will he rule on the motion to reconsider by Valeska and Baxters, after they went through an arbitration that they said was intimidating and even frightening?
This is the lawsuit filed in Tampa, Florida in April 2022 that alleges years of abuse aboard Scientology’s cruise ship, the Freewinds, as the Baxters and Valeska say they worked as virtual slaves as children and adults. Judge Barber ruled that contracts signed while they were Scientologists obliged them to seek arbitration rather than to sue in court. The plaintiffs have previously asked the judge to reconsider his ruling, which he denied in 2024.
READ MORE
tonyortega.substack.com
Excerpt:
[Valeska Paris and Judge Thomas Barber]
We’ve been telling you that one of the issues facing Valeska Paris and Gawain and Laura Baxter in their labor trafficking lawsuit against Scientology is that the church doesn’t allow a transcript to be taken during its “religious arbitration.” And so when there is disagreement over what happened in the room, there’s no record to point to.
So yesterday, Valeska and the Baxters asked Tampa federal Judge Thomas Barber to allow oral arguments and an evidentiary hearing to determine who is telling the truth about the arbitration, which lasted for 15 days until the plaintiffs walked away from it on February 9, calling it a legal farce.
Scientology disagrees, saying the arbitration was a professional proceeding. But who’s telling the truth? An evidentiary hearing, with sworn testimony, could get to the bottom of it, the former Sea Org workers argued.
But the same day, Judge Barber denied the request for oral arguments or an evidentiary hearing. If he needs more information from either side, he said, he will ask for supplemental reports and determine later if a hearing is warranted.
Wow, was Judge Barber quick on the trigger. He is obviously watching this case very closely, and denied the request for an evidentiary hearing right away.
But how will he rule on the motion to reconsider by Valeska and Baxters, after they went through an arbitration that they said was intimidating and even frightening?
This is the lawsuit filed in Tampa, Florida in April 2022 that alleges years of abuse aboard Scientology’s cruise ship, the Freewinds, as the Baxters and Valeska say they worked as virtual slaves as children and adults. Judge Barber ruled that contracts signed while they were Scientologists obliged them to seek arbitration rather than to sue in court. The plaintiffs have previously asked the judge to reconsider his ruling, which he denied in 2024.
READ MORE
Plaintiffs ask for evidentiary hearing on Scientology arbitration mess, but judge says no
We’ve been telling you that one of the issues facing Valeska Paris and Gawain and Laura Baxter in their labor trafficking lawsuit against Scientology is that the church doesn’t allow a transcript to be taken during its “religious arbitration.” And so when there is disagreement over what happened...
tonyortega.substack.com
